Johannesburg – Taxi commuters need to prepare to fork out more for a trip as fares will be increased soon.
The South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) said that at this time of the year it considered fare hikes that come into effect in June and July.
It comes at a time where motorists brace themselves for a record fuel price increase which comes into effect on Wednesday.
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana and his mineral resources and energy counterpart, Gwede Mantashe, are yet to signal an intervention.
“It comes at a time when it’s the time to implement those increases irrespective of the increases that were implemented on petrol that is not the reason why we are increasing,” Santaco’s Bafana Magagula.
But he warned that the fuel hike could result in a sharper increase.
“Maybe the only difference is that due to the petrol hike, the increases may be a bit sharper than and when I say sharper, I mean higher than expected, however, we still consider our commuters as coming from disadvantaged areas,” said Magagula.
Meanwhile,commuters can breathe a sigh of relief. The company’s Brownen Dyke-Byer said that they’d decided to increase fares at this stage.
“Diesel is the single biggest expense item, apart from wages, and price hikes place severe pressure on our operating margins. Golden Arrow will, however, continue to absorb these increases for as long as possible. Going forward, we will continue to monitor the situation closely but would once again like to assure our passengers we are committed to making travel on our buses as cost-effective as we can.”
